What’s in a name when it comes to nursing job titles? Actually quite a lot, according to new research.‘Variation in job titles within the nursing workforce’, published in The Journal of Clinical Nursing this week, warns that nearly 600 specialist job titles now in use is confusing the public, medical professionals and commissioners of healthcare […]
How did Diana learn to become the ‘Queen of Hearts’ for the marginalised and unloved? Nurse Helen Cowan says she has met nurses and carers who shared her endless empathy born out of personal suffering. In the controversial Channel 4 documentary, “Diana: In her own words”, the Princess was portrayed as somebody more comfortable sitting […]
New figures from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) have revealed that more nurses and midwives are leaving the profession in the UK than joining it for the first time on record, with the number departing having risen by 51% in just four years. Earlier this year the Health Service Journal reported that 96% of hospitals […]
What killed so many of the residents of the Grenfell Tower? In the weeks after the tragedy in London, it’s becoming clear that it was more than simply toxic fumes and flammable cladding. These marginalised and oppressed people were not listened to as they campaigned for improved fire safety. Two residents in particular, Mariam Elgwahry and […]
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As a nurse, there are some patients whose names I will never forget, as they have taught me something about the human body: Jane, whose now-healed, once-fungating wounds showed me the marvel of human skin; Rita, whose rare brain tumour showed me the complexity of disease, and James, the head-injury patient left for dead […]
Nurse Helen Cowan talks about starvation, dehydration and death in hospitals. “Kill by mouth” read a recent headline in the Sun newspaper. Readers were informed that “malnutrition was mentioned on the death certificates of 297 patients who died in hospital during 2015; dehydration was cited for 429 patients. For care homes, the figures were 54 and […]
Yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black: not the potting order for the coloured balls in snooker, but the colours in some of the worst wounds that I have dressed as a nurse. Dealing with incontinence is not the most gruesome aspect of the nursing role: it can be far harder to stomach wound care. […]
In the latest Tom Hanks movie, Pilot Sully was a hero as he landed the aircraft on the Hudson River, saving all on board. Crash investigators, however, questioned whether he had made an error of judgement, and whether he could in fact have landed safely at a nearby airport. As nurses, we often have to […]
Adrift and deserted, the disappearance of the crew from the Mary Celeste remains a mystery. Walking onto a hospital ward today, you might also notice a distinct lack of trained staff, especially nurses. Buzzers unanswered, monitors beeping, patients calling out in pain; I have observed doctors being asked for blankets and bedpans. The Institute for […]
It does concern me when I see a nurse brushing off a patient or ignoring little signs of distress. It doesn’t happen often, but compassion fatigue can creep in at the end of a long shift. Compassion and empathy are one of the most important aspects of any job in medicine. Certainly, a nurse who […]